Bakken Oil Terminal Started From Mothballed Ethanol Plant in Oregon

Crude Oil Train Passing Mountain
Crude Oil Train Passing Mountain

An Oregon ethanol plant that went bankrupt within a year of opening is now being used to store and ship Bakken crude oil. The plant was built at a cost of $200 million and was supported by $36 million in green loans and tax credits. The plant was purchased by Global Partners of Massachusetts in February for $94.2 million.

Global Partners is using the facility for crude oil transloading and could restart the ethanol plant if market conditions improve.

The facility is in the Port of St. Helens' Port Westward industrial park near Clatskanie, OR. The facility began accepting crude oil by rail deliveries late in 2012.

It's the first major crude oil terminal to begin operations in the area in decades.

Kodiak Buying Bakken Assets From Liberty Resources For $660 Million

Kodiak Bakken Acreage Map
Kodiak Bakken Acreage Map

Kodiak Oil & Gas has signed a purchase and sale agreement with Liberty Resources for 42,000 net acres in the Williston Basin for $660 million.

The acquisition includes acreage prospective for the Bakken and Three Forks formations in McKenzie and Williams counties.

In total, a portion of 35 (1,280-acre) spacing units are included in the deal.

  • 14,000 net acres adjacent to the Polar Area
  • 25,000 net acres west of the Koala & Smokey areas

Production from the assets averaged 5,700 b/d in May of 2013. Kodiak will also assume a rig contract that has 14 months remaining.

After closing, Kodiak will control 196,000 net acres in the Bakken.

Magellan Petroleum Planning CO2 EOR Pilot Test At Poplar Dome

Magelan Petroleum Poplar CO2 EOR Project MT
Magelan Petroleum Poplar CO2 EOR Project MT

Magellan Petroleum is planning a five well CO2 pilot test at its Poplar Field in northern Montana. The price tag for the test is estimated at $20 milllion.

Evaluation of the project is expected to take any where from one to two years. From there, Magellan hopes to take the field into full development.

Five wells will be used during the test - one injection well and four producing wells.

Magellan hopes full scale development could yield as much as 50 million barrels of oil. The field is unitized and consists of 22,000 acres.

“We believe that bringing this field to full-scale EOR development could result in the addition of 50 million barrels of reserves to our books and could have a significant multiplier effect on our valuation.”
— Magellan's CEO

Enerplus Sets New Bakken Production Record In Q1

Enerplus Bakken Acreage Map
Enerplus Bakken Acreage Map

Enerplus set a new company record in the first quarter with 14,500 boe/d of Bakken production from the company's Fort Berthold assets. In total, Enerplus produced just under 20,000 boe/d from the U.S. in the first quarter.

The company plans to drill 20-25 net wells in 2013, with two-thirds targeting the Bakken and one-third targeting the Three Forks formation.

Enerplus spent approximately 45% of the $173 million it invested in the first quarter in the Bakken. A similar trend is expected the rest of the year.

The Fort Berthold region continues to be our most active development area within our portfolio.

A total of three operated and one non-operated well were drilled in the quarter. In addition, five long lateral wells, two short laterals, and one non-operated well were completed during the quarter.

Enerplus also saw costs savings of almost 10% during the quarter due to lower services and supply costs. The company initially budgeted $12.9 million for drilling, completion, and tie-in of wells in the area. By year-end, total costs should be much lower.

Read the full press release at enerplus.com